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The Big Bell Gold Mine is a gold mine located at Big Bell, 24 km north-west of Cue, Western Australia.〔(MINEDEX website - Cue / Aragon search result ) accessed: 6 February 2010〕 The mine was owned and operated by Harmony Gold at the time of its closure in June 2003, having produced 2.6 million ounces of gold during its lifetime, but was sold to Aragon Resources Limited in January 2010.〔(Acquisition of Cue Gold Project Completed ) Aragon Resources announcement, published: 19 January 2010, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 The mine was, for a short time in 2008, owned by Monarch Gold Mining Company Ltd, who went into administration in June 2008.〔(MONARCH GOLD MINING COMPANY LIMITED (MON) ) delisted.com.au, accessed: 15 January 2010〕 Big Bell never entered production under Monarch's ownership. ==History== The historical Big Bell mine produced 730,000 ounces of gold at 4.04 g/t from 1904 to 1955.〔''The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition'', page: 69, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 The mine was a very big, low grade ore deposit at ''Paton's Find'', and was developed by the Premier Gold Mining Company in the 1930s. With the closure of the mine in the mid-1950s, the town of Big Bell declined and was virtually deserted.〔(History of country town names - B ) Landgate website, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 The mine reopened in the 1980s, then owned jointly by ACM Limited and Placer Pacific, having been described as Australia's biggest unexploited gold deposit at the time.〔(Big Bell Gold Mine May Be The First Casualty Of Proposed Tax ) ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', published: 9 June 1986, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 The mine was later owned by Normandy Mining, until October 1999, when New Hampton Goldfields Limited acquired Big Bell for A$12 million in cash and A$17 million in shares.〔(NDY`s ann: Sale of Big Bell ) Normandy Mining ASX announcement, published: 8 October 1999, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 New Hampton was taken over by Harmony Gold in April 2001 for A$54 million.〔〔(Copy of letter despatch to HNG Shareholders by Harmony Gold ) New Hampton ASX announcement, published: 8 January 2001, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 Harmony closed the mine in June 2003, having found previous assesements of the grade at Big Bell over optimistic and making mining the deposits thereby unprofitable.〔〔(Harmony annual report 2003 ) accessed: 20 January 2010〕 The Big Bell processing plant was removed from January 2007 onwards for a cost of A$5.2 million and transported to Westonia, to become part of the new Edna May Gold Mine.〔〔(Annual Financial Report 2007 ) Catalpa Resources, published: 28 September 2007, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 Monarch Gold purchased the mine from Harmony in November 2007 in a deal that saw the company acquire ''Hill 50'', ''Big Bell'', ''St George'', ''Star'' and the ''Great Fingall'' deposits for A$65 million, 30 million of this in cash.〔(MONARCH ACQUIRES HILL 50 GOLD ) Monarch ASX announcement, published: 8 November 2007, accessed: 18 January 2010〕 Monarch already owned the Mount Ida and the Davyhurst Gold Mine, who had both recently entered production at the time. Monarch was to take possession of the mine on 1 April 2008 and complete the financial transaction on 30 June 2008,〔(Monarch finalizes Mt Magnet Purchase Agreement ) Monarch ASX announcement, published: 4 February 2008, accessed: 18 January 2010〕 but failed to make the final payment before entering administration, despite receiving improved sales conditions and a cash-cost reduction.〔(Harmony and Monarch renegotiate sale ) Harmony news release, published: 8 July 2008, accessed: 18 January 2010〕 Monarch appointed Pitcher Partners as voluntary administrators on 10 July 2008, with all mining operations thereby being put on hold. Big Bell thereby returned to Harmony's ownership, Harmony not having received the final payment of the sale.〔(Sale agreement between Harmony and Monarch Gold terminated ) Harmony news release, published: 1 August 2008, accessed: 18 January 2010〕 In January 2010, the mine was sold to Aragon Resources Limited for A$3 million,〔(Aragon to Purchase Fulcrum and 1.5Moz Resource ) Aragon Resources announcement, published: 23 November 2009, accessed: 6 February 2010〕 who chose to rename the project to ''Murchison Bell''. The mine was initially sold to Fulcrum Resources, which was quickly acquired by Aragon.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Big Bell Gold Mine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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